Personalized Children’s Tales
Trends are changing and, in the current era we live in, almost everything is just a click away. In addition, all the information we receive and all the actions we take on a daily basis are much more personalized due to new technologies and the inclusion of personal data on numerous websites.
So, in the world of children’s literature, this is no different. Book typologies are changing and, to an increasing extent, children have much more variety of books to choose from.
So, going back to the customization option we talked about at the beginning, one of the types of books that are having more success today are the custom stories. Below, we’ll tell you a little more about this type of book and the reason for its record sales in the publishing and literary market.
Characteristics of custom stories
One of the most outstanding features of personalized tales is that they do not have a specific age group. Thus, there are publishers that perform this type of customization, whether in stories aimed at babies or in stories aimed at young people.
However, the age group for which there is usually more demand and production is that comprising children between 5 and 12 years old.
Personalized short stories at the beginning of reading
From the age of five, children usually start in the world of reading. It’s an ideal age for them to start acquiring a taste for books at the same time. For this reason, one of the best books parents can read with their children is one in which they are the protagonists themselves.
Tweens and Personalized Books
On the other hand, if we previously mentioned that one of the best ages to use personalized stories is from five years old, another key age is between ten and twelve years old. The reason is very simple: at this age, the taste for reading begins to decline, as it moves from childhood to pre-adolescence and adolescence.
However, if we offer these children personalized books in which their favorite themes or their favorite characters are reflected, we will be giving them reasons for them to enjoy a good story and, thus, we can encourage reading at such a complex age.
Customizable elements in the tales
When this type of book began to be marketed, there was only one possible type of characterization for them: using the boy or girl’s name to name the protagonist of the story.
But the success that these books began to have, little by little, meant that different types of customizations were developed, even giving the possibility to create completely customized books for the reader.
physical descriptions
Physical descriptions are one of the customizations children tend to like the most. This is because the illustrations and texts in which they see and imagine the characters in the story draw a lot of attention, even more if they see themselves there.
This characteristic makes children develop their imagination more, by imagining themselves being protagonists of the story, while paying more attention to continue discovering the plot.
Child’s Personal Data
Another of the customization options that are most included in the personalized tales refers to the child’s personal data: the date of birth, the city where he lives, the name of any of his friends, parents or family or even the school he attends .
In this way, placing these data that are so important to the child in the story will make them immerse themselves even more in what is being narrated.
Photographs and illustrations
As we said before, illustrations play an essential role in children’s reading. They can, on their own, create fascinating stories and thus foster the development of imagination and creativity in children.
Therefore, one of the customizations that will attract the most attention is to include an illustration of the child, or even a photograph of the child, which will be reflected in the pages of the story.
Acquisition of personalized stories
When these personalized books appeared, it was the well-established children’s publishers who began offering them.
However, over time, and because of the success they began to do, publishers specialized in this emerged. Some of them even offer personalized books for adults, as it is a beautiful gift to give to someone.
Each of these new publishers stands out for achieving incredible characterization on some of the points highlighted above. In this way, they live together to fuel this new trend in children’s literature.
